Randomly Me

I don't know that I ever spend time writing about my personal life. I usually seem to have a purpose in sharing something God-focused. That is good. But I think it misrepresents who I am, if that's all I show you. So, here's my random story for the day.

My friend Peggy and I decided to go walking at the Lake Ray Roberts this morning. We like the trails, though they aren't quite as good as Colorado, Washington state, or the Smoky Mountains. It's mostly flat around here, so we hike with the mountains in our imaginations. The lake is pretty.

On the way, I almost killed us. We were completely on the wrong course at that point. Somehow we were too busy talking to notice a turn. As of yet, we've not made it to the lake as planned even once. Always stinkin' lost in the car. Maybe we'll get it next time.

Anyway, after we figured out that we were lost, Peggy told me to turn left. I confidently prepared to turn right. Peggy pointed out that I was turning the wrong way - which didn't register in my head for a while. Then as I figure out the problem, she decides to tell me we're about to die. I had failed to see the red light.

Burnt rubber stinks bad. I think I burned up most of my brakes.

We eventually got to our hiking spot, after only one wrong turn onto the well-marked "maintenance only" road. And with our luck, the national adventure race championships were being held. We didn't realize that we'd be sharing the path with bikers until we got a mile in. And it was completely muddy. We spent most of the time scaling mud holes and watching out for horses and bikes. But it was a workout all the same.

After about 3 miles, I kept giving excuses as to why we should keep going just a little further. (Keep in mind you have to turn around and cover the same mileage on the way back.) I hadn't brought water or eaten breakfast, so at the very least I was looking at 6 miles. But the turnaround point was just around the corner... just a little farther... see that opening ahead... the power lines mean we're close... I can hear the highway... let's just find the next marker so we'll remember how far we got next time... the cows mean there are houses and the road must be close... the trail markers are getting closer together and that means we're getting close... My ridiculous reasoning went on and on. But she didn't draw the line, so we kept on caking mud to our clothes and wading through the bogs.

Eventually, I pointed out the water tower 20 miles away and said, "See. We're almost there!" By that point delirious laughing was all we could do. We both wanted to get to the turnaround and enjoy some civilized facilities before having to turn back around. We could sense we were so close! A woman's intuition should never be questioned.

Ten miles. We went 10 miles total.

At one point I decided I needed to pray for food and water because we both have issues with low blood sugar. Just as I started, "Okay, Lord..." I realized I was passing a water bottle in the brush. It just so happened that it was an unopened, didn't expire until 2011, bottle of Ozarka water. I inspected the seal. Totally unbroken. Someone must have dropped it.

Thank you, Jesus! I would have gotten pretty sick without water on the way back.

There was also a Red Bull in the parking lot at the turnaround, but we decided against the sugar content. We were pretty close to having it, though. Desperate times call for desperate measures. =) It was noon by then, and we'd been going for over a couple of hours.

Four hours later, we returned to the car moving slow motion and caked in mud. We were silent. Too tired to talk. Mission accomplished.

So I got home and made breakfast at 3 pm - scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast.